Daniël Hughes (1994), who represented South Africa in the recent European Boat Angling Championships, shares his unique experience in the Nordic waters:
We left for Iceland on the 20th of May. Four flights later and after 40 hours of travelling we ended up in a remote village called Sudavik, based in the Western fjords. It has a population of about 10 permanent residents and one fish factory and about 40 houses. We had three practice days there. The photo represents the whole Protea team and what we caught on any practice day.
On average our fishing conditions varied from 3 degrees to -3 degrees depending on the wind chill factor, our best day warmed up to 5 degrees! The species of fish there are endemic to many parts of northern Europe but are very foreign to the southern hemisphere. The majority of fish in the team photo are Cod. I am holding a Cod and Wolf fish. The Wolf fish is unlike any fish I have ever caught before and has jaws that would crush your fingers with no problem! I did prepare Cod and Wolf fish for the team one evening, the Cod is great but the Wolf fish has a metallic flavour to it, not my cup of brandy!
After 5 days in Sudavik we made our way down to Olafsvik, here we were based for the European Boat Angling Championships. There were teams from Norway, Ireland, England, Scotland and Gibraltar to mention a few. There were 20 international teams in total, with 16 countries represented. Species that were caught were, Cod, Wolf fish, Redfish (very similar to a cold-water Rock cod we get of the Cape coast, same as the pic where I am standing alone holding up a “’’Redfish”), flat fish (Dabs, Long Rough dab, Paice, small Halibut), cole fish, Ling, Whiting etc. Some of the species were new to us, but a lot we had caught in Ireland in the European Championships of 2016.
We ended up 11th out of the 20 teams. We were not overly happy with our final position, adjusting to the technique and style of tournament fishing is something that takes some getting used to, but seeing as we have the experience it is not an excuse! I have fished with all these boys before, both locally and overseas and know that they all tried their hardest. Hours were spent in the evenings doing tackle preparation while having an occasional rum or brandy. By the way a litre bottle of Spice Gold cost R1000 and a foot long hot dog R100, so the drinks were not flowing too furiously, even though we did bring some “dop” across from the duty free store.
Iceland is an amazing destination and a stunning country. This time of the year it is recovering from the major freeze of winter and is decked with low growing scrub and grass which are all different shades of brown. This coupled with valleys strewn with volcanic rock makes for incredibly harsh and beautiful landscapes and with massive waterfalls which are created by the melting snow, this country offers endless opportunities for stunning landscape portraits.
As our time moved on in Iceland the browns started to make way for the lighter greens and new life that started to appear after the grips of winter had been released. Further south this was a lot more evident and parts of the countryside reminded me of Ireland. If ever you get the chance to go or if ever you are not sure where you would like to go next, choose Iceland, it is something that you will not encounter anywhere else in the world.
My team mates were: Martin Gierz (our captain), Rory Leonard, Allan Ford and John Luef.
Daniël Hughes
